The article gives us an overview of the sleeping Eros, which is a Greek goddess of love. Since the discovery of the sculpture, it was transported and put in a museum. People from all walks of life travel just to behold how the original image looks like. This has also seen the modification of the sculpture as many artists come up with what they believe is a modern representation of the goddess. The sleeping Eros has been reproduced through paintings, wood and stone carvings and placed at strategic areas. Apart from its archaeological significance, it also has spiritual significance to the Romans and Greeks.
Arguably, the discovery of the sculpture and its persistence through the many generations it lived essentially relates closely to the ancient culture as learned in class. Different generations perceived the sculpture differently, it is therefore important to note that the sculpture best represents the culture of people the time it existed. People who lived during the time in which the sculpture existed perceived the sculpture to denote different things depending on the myths and believes they attached during that time in history. Considering that the class readings defines culture as the entirety of believes, arts attitudes and images, it is important to note that the sculpture best represents these phenomena by basically giving various implications relating to believes, attitudes, and images of those people that lived in the past particularly during the Hellenistic period, the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.
The discovery of the sculpture is essentially important to archaeology in a number of ways. Considering that the sculpture was closely attached to some mythical believes, the sculpture is very useful in deducing culture identities of the past, the historical narratives, and realising the religious practices of the past during the time in which the sculpture existed. Additionally, considering that archaeology entails excavation and discovery, the sculpture best represents the heritage of any person who has ever lived on earth and the generations to come along putting all humans in an equal basis.
The Screaming Mummies
The article talks about some of the fascinating sights in archaeology, one that is the screaming mummies. This ranges back in time when Egyptians observed certain burial rites depending on the status that person held in the society, how they lived their lives and met their death. Kings had special tombs and had to be buried in a certain way. In one of the excavations however, it was noticed that some mummies looked different from the rest, their mouth sculls were open and a screaming voice was heard. Even though this appeared strange, it was considered normal especially for the people who met their deaths through criminal acts and were hence buried disrespectfully.
Archaeology entails attaching significance to the discovered materiel artefacts and relating it to the various aspects of the ancient culture. Based on the discoveries made as presented in the article, it is important to note that the believes of people during that time of the history is different from the contemporary believes, in essence, the culture of the time represented was the one that was characterised with sceptical believes that include burying people alive, punishing people using death sentence and so many other things that have since evolved and became eliminated. Additionally, the article establishes ways in which the culture changes overtime.
The discovery presented in this article is important because, it shows how things have changed over time since the world unlike the past emphasizes much on equality owing to a shift of religious inclination to secularism. It also, offers a close relation of the future and the past practices within a certain community. From this, we realise that people are accorded final burial rights according to how they lived their lives. It is unfortunate that even though people have little faith in life after death in modern times, there is still rampart discrimination on burial rites. The rich and the most influential in the society are accorded decent burials, however bad they were. The poor and the insignificant in the society are also less valued even when it comes to burial even if they lived godly life. With such a trend, there will be little change even on how the same will be handled in future.
Roman Curse Tablet Uncovered in Jerusalem’s City of David
Biblical history is more profound than what is written in the bible. As days and years pass by, many more discoveries are being made which confirm how Christianity is a deep rooted religion. The article takes us through one of the most recent discoveries of the curse tablet. This was a mind battle, which was meant to ensure that people lived according to their vows and discipline. The curse tablet was believed to invoke some magical powers against any person that walked contrary to religious rules of the time. This was at a time when there was a serious battle between paganism and Christianity. The only way to survive the waves of temptations was to have laws that clearly stipulated the blessings and the curses to individuals.
The main objective of archaeology being to confirm past events particularly those that are considered mythological as per the class readings. It is apparent that this article closely relates to religion, myths and how these aspects were proved or confirmed. Through such evidences, many people are encouraged to live religious lives. There is the realization that what they follow and believe was not just made up but has some strong foundations.
The article mentioned herein is important in that, it helps one discover that rules and regulations have been there since the ancient time, and it should be perceived as part and parcel of human life. Additionally, this article attests that rules and regulations are usually implemented to ensure order in the society as well as help people live peacefully with each other. We find such rules in every institutional setting to the national level. They are however amended over time just to suit the current needs of people. Just like the curse tablets, there are dire consequences for anybody who does not follow the stipulated rules. This is something that will continue even to the future. There has however always been a risk of the rules being implemented by a certain group of people and therefore favouring them at the expense of the others.
Works Cited
Melikian, Souren. “Linking Antiquity with the Renaissance”. The New York Times February 22 February 2013: Internet Source.<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/arts/23iht melikian23.html?ref=archaeologyandanthropology>
Wears, Adam & McClelland-Crosby. “The 7 Most Terrifying Archaeological Discoveries”. 22 May 2012. Internet Source. < http://www.cracked.com/article_19837_the-7-most-terrifying-archaeological-discoveries.html>
Wiener, Noah. The Bible History Daily. Roman Curse Tablet Uncovered in Jerusalem’s City of David. 31 Oct. 2013. Web. 15 November 2013.
<http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/news/roman-curse-tablet-uncovered-in-jerusalems-city-of-david/>
